Aberdeen Roncalli put an exclamation point on its conference schedule with an aggressive serving effort Monday night.

The Cavaliers wrapped up a 10-0 Northeast Conference campaign with a 25-9, 25-16, 25-18 volleyball victory over Deuel at Roncalli Gym. It’s Roncalli’s first conference crown since 2020.

“It’s always a goal for the girls … first step is the conference and then obviously we want to make it through postseason,” said Roncalli coach Mandy Smid. “We have had a great year. We have a really tough conference, we have a tough region. To have that on our banner is definitely something to be proud of.”

It was Roncalli’s serving that set the tone from the beginning. The Cavaliers racked up 12 aces in the match as players consistently served the ball as close to the net as possible. Some balls even clipped the tape as they went over.

“This summer I really focused on getting my serve as aggressive as it can be, and getting it as aggressive as it can be means getting it closest to the net,” said Roncalli junior Maddie Huber. “Even if it hits the tape, that’s a good serve, because the opponents don’t know where it’s going.”

The Cavaliers, who controlled each of the sets, were able to keep the Cardinals out of system as the visitors scrambled to handle those line-drive serves.

Smid, who said she likes her players to try to keep their serves lower than the antenna height, said serving is an important element of the game. It certainly was against Deuel.

“The service sets the tone of the game,” Smid said, “and it caused them to send things over that gave us those opportunities to set up our plays.”

Those plays were often finished off by Huber, who had a monster match, finishing with three aces, 13 kills, and eight set assists. Huber kept the Cardinals off balance by going line, cross court or dumping the ball in the middle of the Deuel defense.

“I just try to mix up my hitting, because it really puts the defense on their toes,” Huber said, “because if you go line one time, the defense is going to shift the other way, but then if you switch it and go cross court, then they don’t know where it’s going to go next.”

Smid said that Monday’s matchup played right into the skill set of Huber.

“When you can have a strong right side, it’s one of the, I would say, most underrated positions,” Smid said, “and if you can have a player like Maddie that can hit the line ball, that can hit cross court, that can tip, it just depends on what the matchup is on the other side of the net and definitely tonight it was a matchup for Maddie, and we were able to get it to her and she used that.”

Again, while that offense finished at the net, it all started behind the service line with those low flying serves.

“That’s kind of a goal serving, just to have it closer so it’s harder for them to judge,” said Roncalli senior Camryn Bain who led the team with four aces. “It’s always harder if it’s closer to the net.”

Deuel, which played without two starters in the contest, will now prepare for the postseason like all of the other teams in the state.

“Our goal this year was if we couldn’t win, to play better volleyball,” said Deuel coach Stephanie Mattson, “and I think we’ve accomplished that.”

She hopes the Cardinals will be full strength for next week’s region playoffs.

“We’ll hopefully have them all healthy for next week, which will be helpful, but really just trying to get these girls excited about playing as a team,” Mattson said, “and I feel like they have fought hard this season and I really can’t ask for more than that.”

Roncalli, 18-5, accomplished its first goal of the season by winning an NEC title and will now look to navigate through the postseason. Bain said the matches take on a different feel from here on out.

“I think there will be a little bit more pressure put on us,” Bain said, “but I think we’ll be able to take that pressure and change it into momentum for us.”

Serving: Deuel 35-41 2 aces (Sara Jo Kreger 1 ace, Hope Bjerke 1 ace); Aberdeen Roncalli 63-75 12 aces (Camryn Bain 16-18 4 aces, Maddie Huber 12-13 3 aces).

Hitting: Deuel 45-57 3 kills (Alyana Carlson 2 kills, Camdyn Peterreins 1); Aberdeen Roncalli 84-98 33 kills (Huber 22-25 13 kills, Jaidyn Feickert 14-20 6 kills).

Setting: Deuel 59-61 3 assists (Kayden Russell 2 assists, Kreger 1 assist); Aberdeen Roncalli 80-80 24 assists (Faith Danielson 32-32 11 assists, Huber 32-32 8 assists).

Digs: Deuel 39 (Russell 11, Kaitlyn Gubrud 10, Tory Engebretson 6); Aberdeen Roncalli 47 (Bain 13, McKenna O’Keefe 10).

Blocks: Deuel 2 solo 6 assists (Bjerke 1 solo 2 assists, Russell 2 assists, Carlson 1 solo 1 assist, Peterreins 1 solo 1 assist).

Records: Deuel 7-16; Aberdeen Roncalli 18-5.